One that I've been reluctant to purchase... or even try, just based on the relatively poor reviews it has. But hey, it's Bell's, so it can't be that bad, right? ....Right?? Midwestern Pale Ale pours out like a foggy pear skin; muddled and overrun by a jungle of small and sifting sediment particles. The porcelain head looks like a cloud, overcasting the unfiltered brew and taking its sweet ol' time to finally settle itself.

The aroma is kind of confusing. And not really in a good way. Mildly sulfuric, toasted bread, pale malt, and a touch of meek, musty hops, reminiscent in my mind of Saaz, or at least some kind of Noble hop. I get a chunky, crisp lager whiff, too, very akin to lagering yeast. Really, this smells like more of a lager than an ale, but not even a *good* one at that. Kind of boring and plain, and not really fitting of the "American Pale Ale" namesake.

Equally disappointing is the flavor, starting off with a combo of light DMS, sulfur, and off-beat graininess - this beer almost tastes like it has been sunstruck... so much for the brown bottle. Metallic notes, musky, and earthy hops that are far too faint with a finishing sucker punch of dirt, crisp yeast, and unexciting pale malt. Light bodied, not a whole lot in terms of palate presence, though the carbonation is crispy and dry, again, giving me that "lager" feel.

Bleh, wow. I'm pretty upset with Bell's on this one. Not at all what I think of when I hear the term "Pale Ale". For a brewery that has released stuff like Two Hearted, Hopslam, and Expedition Stout, you kind of expect more out of their constant rotation pale ale. Instead, we have this boring, bland, mildly off-putting, almost lager-ish but not as good, confusing mess of a beer. Good thing they have so many other great offerings - this one won't be missed.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. The label on the back has a brief description of the beer and it lists the abv at 5.2%.

Appearance: Midwestern Pale Ale has very thick and creamy off white head which hangs on well. It sits on top of a deep golden/light amber body with some hazing and yeast sediment floating around. As I drink it makes lots of cool lacing on the glass.

Smell: It has a sweet bready and malty character with a light herbal, almost mineral like hop note for balance.

Taste / Palate: Up front it has sweet honey and orange marmalade flavor with a smooth bready base underneath. Light herbal and floral hop notes move in and a good balance of hop bitterness to the finish. It has a solid medium to full body and the palate feels smooth and balanced with carbonation.

Appearance: Pours a pale and hazy golden orange with lots of rising bubbles. Big four finger white head with good retention. Leaves a lot of lacing around the glass.

Smell: A bready malt forward aroma that is fairly floral. Sweet pale malts and wheat grains with hints of biscuit, yeast, hay, and crackers. Lightly grassy scent with lemon zest but the hop presence is pretty light. There is a nice floral aroma mixing with the malts. Laid back but decent Blonde style aroma.

Taste: Like the smell indicates, a malty and grainy pale taste. Pale malts and wheat grains with a taste of biscuit, yeast, hay, cereal grains, and crackers. Fairly musty and grassy with some citrus lemon zest. Floral with a very laid back hop bitterness. A nice taste for a lighter wheat style beer.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with a medium to high level of carbonation. Crisp, smooth, and slightly drying.

Overall: A decent beer, but its a lot more in the Blonde wheat style than American Pale Ale. Nice floral taste.

Poured into DFH signature glass; translucent yellow-orange with a thin white head that leaves sticky fine lacing as it fades into a nice ring of foam with lively bubbles feeding it. Smells of crackery toasted malt, grainy, bit of diacetyl, metallic, slight hint of crisp hops. Taste is crackery-sweet malt, toasted grain, slight crisp generic hop flavor and a slightly odd flat bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin and lightly carbonated. Overall, this is a bit boring. They could have upped the hops considerably without going too bitter, and it would have really expanded the flavor of this one. The simplicity of this beer would make it a good bridge for macro drinkers working their way into craft, though. It's that type of session beer that you'd drink during a party, when you don't want to have to think about what you're drinking, but still want to drink something palatable.

Great looking beer creamy textured soft off white cream colored head settles on a semi clouded amber copper colored body, with thick creamy bands of chunky lacing left sporadically not in any ornate patterns. Aromatics contain pleasant bready malts, a hint of earthiness, toasted nuts with a simple single dimensioned mild citrus hop edge. Pretty pleasant straight forward mildly hopped pale ale, this is trying to showcase their Michigan grown malt and it's tasty no complaints filed here. Bready grains hints of caramel and ample bitterness in the backend to balance it out, earthy herbal flavors from the hops not much else going on here. Mouthfeel is medium to lighter bodied with natural flowing carbonation each sip is inoffensive on the palate as the next. Overall a nice session beer, one meant to be enjoyed more than one at a time and still not exhaust your live or palate.